Trivia / The Three Caballeros

• Actor-Shared Background: José was voiced by Brazilian musician José Oliveira (whose stage name was "Zé Carioca", much like the Brazilian Portuguese name of José) and Panchito was voiced by Mexican-American actor Joaquin Garay, mostly avoiding the Fake Nationality that was often employed with Latin American characters in 1940s Hollywood.
• Blooper:
  • Aurora Miranda couldn't speak English as well as her sister, Carmen, so when she says "Hello" in English to José, it is clearly dubbed in.
  • During the "Three Caballeros" song, when Donald, Jose, and Panchito fight over the silhouette of the "Latin baby", the buttons on Donald's shirt are missing.
• California Doubling: The beach sequence was actually the Walt Disney Studios parking lot converted into a beach.
• Completely Different Title: In Brazil, it takes the name of one of the featured tracks, Você Já Foi a Bahia?
• Creator's Favorite: Panchito is one of the favorite roles of Toshio Furukawa, his Japanese voice actor.
• The Danza: José is still voiced by José Oliviera (whose nickname was Ze Carioca, before he started voicing the character), while Professor Holloway (Narrator of ''The Cold-Blooded Penguin) is voiced by Sterling Holloway.
• Dueling Dubs: While the most circulated Brazilian Portuguese dub is the original one from the 1940s, there is also one made for the VHS that also got broadcast on TV.
• First Appearance: Of Panchito Pistoles and the Aracuan Bird.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: Somehow, this became the first of Disney's post-Golden Age 1940s package films to have all of its DVDs go out of print. However, it does have an official Digital HD release, and a Disney Movie Club-exclusive Compilation Re-release Blu-ray with Saludos Amigos. It is also available on the Disney+ streaming service.
• Multiple Languages, Same Voice Actor: Joaquin Garay dubbed himself as Panchito in the Mexican Spanish dub, but only in the songs. Clarence Nash also dubs Donald for the Mexican Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese dub, as does José Olivera for both the Brazilian Portuguese and Mexican Spanish dubs. Also, all three of them dubbed themselves in the Italian dub and the French dub.
• Real Song Theme Tune:
  • The Three Caballeros theme song uses the same tune as an existing song, Ay Jalisco no te Rajes. In fact, when Panchito begins singing in Spanish, he's actually singing a verse from the original song.
  • Almost all of the songs featured in this movie are already existing songs. The only song originally written for this movie is the song simply known as "Mexico".
• Throw It In!: Animator Ward Kimball was never given any real direction for the titular song, so he just threw in whatever crazy images his mind could conjure up. He was surprised when Walt approved of it. In fact, he animated almost the entire sequence by himself (with the exception of the solo shots of José, which were done by Fred Moore).
• What Could Have Been:
  • There was another planned film for the Caballeros. It would have not only introduced the fourth Caballero, but also taken place in Cuba. The book The Disney that Never Was: Stories of Unproduced Animation talks about it. And designs of the fourth Caballero show that he is Cuban.
  • There was a planned segment to be titled The Pelican and the Snipe, but it ended up being released as a separate short.
  • Gauchito from "The Flying Gauchito" segment would have appeared in a second short, "The Laughing Gauchito", in which he had a laugh that could shatter glass and would become a celebrity, until his voice changed. It got as far as rough animation before being shelved.

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